Tale of Hebbal station

Hebbal SWR station located in ward 20 adjacent to the ring road services wards 19, 20, 21 on the inside & ward 8 on the outside. The demographics of these wards lend itself to heavy public transport usage. Let us look at this station from a CRS standpoint

The station itself is bare and clean. The reservation counters are empty but the station manager is helpful in printing tickets to those who ask. It has 2 platforms with tracks in the middle. Only the platform closest to the entrance is used by the YH1 CRS train. This is possibly to prevent crossing over from the other platform as you will have to walk on the tracks to cross over.

Primary problem with this station like many others on the CRS route is making it accessible from all sides via feeder service. While the access to wards 21 & 8 can be had from the ring road side. Wards 19 & 20 are totally cut off.

From station looking south towards Bhoopasandra main road. No access to the south from station despite being 100 mtrs away

Looking from Bhoopasandra main road to the station. The coconut & Sapota grove seperate wards 19 & 20 from the station

Current accessibility challenges

Hebbal station is fed by buses upto Hebbal bus terminus under the flyover. The station is a 300 meter walk from under the flyover.

Notice the pathway to the hebbal terminus in the distance. This is from pre ring road days where the Lake extended closer to the station

1. Most buses that arrive at this terminus are long distance, they dont service the immediate catchment wards mentioned above, except via trunk roads of Bellary road & ring road.

Taken from south side of the track, notice the bus terminus between the pillars

2. The bus stand itself might be shifted farther away towards the Nagvara side across the ring road at a future date and hence making it more inconvinient and possibly cutting off the integration altogether.

3. The present Hebbal bus terminus to Station is still a hurdle for the aged and disabled as the walk is substantial along the pathway.

Pre-ring road era pathway to the station from the flyover/terminus

The nearest bus stand to Hebbal station on the inside is Bhoopasandra bus stand at the border of ward 19 & 20 which is at the same distance from the west end of the platform as Hebbal bus stand is from the east end.

Top left to the end of the road is Bhoopasandra bus stand which serves wards 19 & 20. Across the coconut grove on the right is the Hebbal station with no access path

Solutions

Short term

Current schedule of YH1 makes it stop at hebbal only 4 times in a day.

1. Extend the bus from Bhoopasandra bus stand to stop at the Hebbal bus stand under the flyover on the south side coinciding with the 4 stop times allowing 15 mins for the 300mtr walk form the Hebbal bus terminus

To the right of the poster pillar is a defunct bus stop. The only bus stop to the south of the tracks which is near a cross over point

2. Run special feeder for catchment areas to Hebbal bus stand on both sides

Long term

Long term schedule of YH1 will become 1 every 20 or 30 mins.

We need to make buses stop on both North & South sides close to the station. This solution will work even if the Hebbal terminus moves elsewhere at a later date.

The existance of the Hebbal bus station under the flyover has caused a lot pedestrian cross overs which can be dangerous for a frequent operation of CRS. Hence the move to a more permenant location should be welcomed.

While the south bus stand can be the Bhoopasandra bus stand, the northern side will involve stop across the ring road on the far side for buses heading east and on the near side for Buses heading west.

A single subway from Bhoopasandra bus stand all the way across the ring road till Hebbal lake will serve the purpose. This subway will have 4 exists, 1 for each platform and one each for the bus stands on the ring road. On the southern side of the Station the access can be at surface level over the drain running across the coconut grove. This subway will prevent crossovers under the flyover.

Notice the drain running to the right of the picture. It goes all the way near the station across the coconut grove, A pathway either on it or across this grove can continue below the raised station as a subway and under the ring road all the way across.

So who all noticed how close to outer ring road, and also the Bellary Road this Hebbal station is?

Can you even imagine the possibilities? Bus hub near the station, crowd comes from yelahanka side, and the moves on towards East, or South side of the city. Or go west towards yeshwantpur, catch a metro to Jayanagar right there, and you have yelahanka to almost anywhere in the City area in 40-50 minutes with easy changes. Why do I say easy changes? Because chaning trains is a lot easier (for commuters) than changing buses.

IDS - how was the space around tracks from Hebbal till Belandur Road? Any problem points for doubling this track that you noticed?

A simple covered walkway across the field from Bhoopasandra main road with non concrete wood/steel floorboards and a grill on the side between the trees will make it cheap and efficient. Not a single tree needs to be felled. The drain which was recently fortified can also be used for this purpose.

Once the walkway reaches the station (which is at a raised level) it can become a subway constructed through box pushing technology. You dont even need escalators to the 2 platforms & on both sides of the the ring roads, sloping ramps will do.

Considering cut & cover for ring road, box pushing for under the platform, ramps for walkways, all steel walkway and no utilities to be moved. This shouldnt cross more than the 16 to 20 crore underpasses built across town.

24 hours for the underpass across ring road, 1 month for box pushing, 15 days for walkway & 1 month for fit & finish, we should be done in max 3 months post tender. Side benefit, the subway will make Hebbal lake a short walk for the many residents of wards 19 & 20

This is an excellent analysis and the suggested action plan is great stuff. Plus the 'side benefit' of access to the lake is, imho, a deal clincher.

The question that remains is how to go about getting action on the ground. One way would be to write to the newly elected councillors for these wards. They should be eager to push forward a project that benefits their constituents and can be highlighted as an achievement in the next election.

One way would be to write to the newly elected councillors for these wards.

Yes that is the best way to take up these projects in isolation.

Long term, The overall CRS plan has to identify roles & responsibilities of each facility and who will do it. Who will build stations? Who will run trains? Who will build signalling? Who will maintain facilities? Who will provide subways & access roads? Who will run feeder.

Building integrated transport systems are not easy and our politicians only make it harder.

Excellent coverage about Hebbal station. But it is unfortunate that only one train stops at Hebbal Station. Even if you are staying at Hebbal, you are taken to Yeshwantpur all the way and you have to catch an autorickshaw (after the usual hagling about the fare) and head back to your home. A waste of about one-and-a-haf hours! that too in this modern age where time cannot be wasted at all. This also adds to the carbon emission on the roads by forcing one more autorickshaw (which is a great polluter anyhow) on the road.

What I suggest is all incoming and outgoing trains should have a 2/3 minute halt at all the Railway Stations in Bengaluru so that people need not spend on extra transportation to and fro the Railway Station which will also help in reduction of unwarranted carbon emissions.

What I suggest is all incoming and outgoing trains should have a 2/3 minute halt at all the Railway Stations in Bengaluru

Here is an example from Netherlands

Stations are divided into three categories. These are, in order of decreasing importance:

Intercity stations, where all trains (except, in some cases, international services) call.

Rapid train (sneltrein) stations, where rapid and local trains call.

The remaining stations, where only local trains (stoptreinen or Sprinters) call

Rapid trains are usually intercity and stop trains are suburban.

If you took a rapid train you will have to get off at intercity/rapid train station and then catch the next stop train to your neighbourhood station. In our case rapid trains will be the intercity passenger, Intercity will be our point to point non stop express trains and stop trains will be our CRS

So if city & cantt are our intercity stations, Yeshwantpur, Byappanahalli, Banaswadi, Yelahanka are our Rapid train stations then for Hebbal you can either get off the rapid train at Banaswadi or Yeshwantpur and catch the suburban stop train to Hebbal. Or if you came to city in an intercity then you have to rely on a metro to either go to Yeswantpur and then a stop train to Hebbal or take a bus to your nearest stop.

All this requires good frequency of stop trains at 15 - 20 mins in each segments and also a good information system.

This very much true, their is no path way, no lighting. Their is no proper bus stand at Kuvempu Circle. Bharat Electronics ( BEL ) factory is hardly 100 Mts from this station. Authorities should develop these such places so that commuters will feel more easy to use commuter railw ith BMTC.

Here is a good perspective view of Byappanahalli SWR station & the adjacent metro station coming up, shot by nandan_ks. Click for bigger image.

There definitely will be clogging if this station will be used as a terminus as, from the pic, there are only 2 platform tracks for short stopping of trains without blocking the pass thru double tracks.

The Hebbal Railway station is an unofficial suburban rail for hundreds of IT professionals travelling to Electronic City. The station is also used by flower and vegetable vendorsfrom places like Salem and Hosur. The station may not have too many trains passing through, however, the four trains that stop here see hundreds of people embarking at the station. Yet, the station is in a pathetic condition.

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